GUNNAR: NOTHING ENDS ON TUESDAY

15 April 2013

Oliver Roderick

Cardiff City midfielder Aron Gunnarsson has stated that nothing has been achieved yet, and that the Bluebirds would continue to maintain their will-to-win attitude in each of the final four nPower Championship fixtures - even if promotion is sealed against Charlton Athletic at Cardiff City Stadium on Tuesday evening.

“Everyone’s got their feet on the ground, and are just thinking about the next game, which is against Charlton” City’s Iceland captain said to Press on Monday.

“I know it’s exciting with it nearly being the end of the season, but we are only looking to the game tomorrow. I’m quite looking forward to it – the fans were brilliant on Saturday and I loved playing in front of them.”

When asked about the legacy that a promotion would create for his career, Aron was decidedly humble, replying: “I don’t think anybody recognises me yet on the streets! We’re all calm and we know it’s not done yet. We’re not saying that it’s over now, and that we’re up already, we just want to get the job done and to finish the season on a high. We’ve been top now since November and we don’t want to let that slip. It’s not about becoming a legend; it’s about sticking together and doing it as a team. Hopefully for the fans we will get there.”

The first of City’s final four opponents would not give Cardiff an easy time, insisted City’s number seventeen, especially given the Londoners’ eye-catching result on Saturday.

“They’ve just battered Barnsley 6-0," Gunnar emphasised. "Some might say that Barnsley had two men sent off, but it was already 4-0 at that point. They are a good team – when we played against them away it was quite embarrassing for us because I think we were 2-0 up [Charlton eventually ran out 5-4 winners]. We need to be on top form to get something out of that game. There’s no chance that they’ll make it easy for us.

“You’ve seen the amount of games that we’ve won at home this season, and we’re still going into every game looking to win it. That’s the attitude of the group, and the players and the staff: we’re not going to try to keep it at 0-0, that’s not how it works at this club.

“With four games left we’ve got time to do it, and I think that’s why everybody’s calm about it. We obviously want to win the league: we’re not going to stop if we get that one point, so the season will not be finished tomorrow.”

Next the discussion turned to the advantage that Cardiff’s squad depth has been this season, and whether Aron foresaw any new additions arriving in South Wales this summer.

“The manager has changed the system recently and gone with one more in midfield," he replied. "He knows the kind of players we are and he knows what is best for us. At this club there’s been a lot of fighting for places this season because we’ve got a lot of brilliant players. The squad is big and everyone on the side-lines wants to come in and do well.

“If you look back to last year, Reading and Southampton [who were both promoted from the Championship] each brought in three or four players, and that’ll happen here as well. As to who that will be, we will see, but that’s the way football works.”

To conclude the press conference, Aron was asked what promotion would mean to him personally.

“I came to Coventry at nineteen years old, but I felt that that wasn’t taking me up to the Premier League," he answered. "I came to Cardiff to reach that level.

"It’s been my dream since I was young, so hopefully I will get there in the end. I’m going to be proud of myself if it comes; I will tell my mates and everyone else at that time, but it’s not done yet."